South Korean chaebol Lotte is to start selling its Chinese supermarkets, after Beijing hit it with unofficial sanctions related to the nuclear arms tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Lotte has provided the South Korean government a golf course at which to install the THAAD missile-interception system and for the US to defend against North Korea’s missile threats, The Straits Times reported.

China opposes the system and, allegedly in response, shut about 90% of Lotte’s stores in relation to bogus health and safety issues. Lotte expects an operating loss of $833 million this year as a result, and announced it would begin selling its Chinese stores.

The founder’s sons have until this week been engaged in a feud over the business’s succession, which may have resolved itself when the elder, Shin Dong-Joo (pictured), said he would sell most of his shares while his brother Dong-Bin continued as chair.

Lotte, with an annual revenue of about $74 billion, is South Korea’s fifth-biggest conglomerate and has been run by the Shin family since it was established by Shin Kyuk-ho in 1948.

Youngest-ever chief financial officer steps up at Kraft Heinz

Family-backed food giant Kraft Heinz has appointed what is thought to be the youngest-ever chief financial officer, David Knopf, who landed the job aged just 29.

Knopf, who was leading the Planters peanuts category for Kraft Heinz, has also been a partner with 3G Capital, the private equity firm which in July 2015 partnered with the Buffet family’s Berkshire Hathaway to create Kraft Heinz, formerly two separate entities.

The Washington Post reported the average age of a chief financial officer is 52. “To be selected as CFO of a company that's this large with a global footprint and a global brand means he’s got to be a star,” Charley Polachi, managing partner of an eponymously named executive search firm, told the Post.

Knopf graduated from Princeton in 2010 before starting his career in investment banking and private equity.

NZ philanthropist and businessman dies

A New Zealand businessman knighted for services to the arts, community and business has died aged 88.

Sir Pat Goodman turned his family’s bakery business near Nelson into a transtasman giant called Goodman Fielder Wattie, later taking his three sons Greg, Craig and Patrick into the fold. The family sold the business in the 1990s, but remained involved.

The three brothers forged successful business careers, mostly in Australia. Greg Goodman is chief executive of property group Goodman based in Sydney. The family is worth NZ $1.3 billion ($1.065 billion) according to the NBR Rich List.

Sir Pat received a knighthood in 1995 for services to business management, export and the community, later joining the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Sir Pat's wife Lady Hilary Goodman was killed in a car crash in Australia in 2014.

About the Author

Alexandra Newlove was a Senior Writer who joined the CampdenFB team in 2017-18. Previously, she worked in New Zealand as a news reporter with Fairfax Media and NZME. Alex is a qualified journalist, who also has a degree in criminology and psychology. When not writing about the issues which affect family businesses, Alex is a keen cook, runner, and voracious consumer of books and news.